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Drury, Bob, and Tom Clavin.  Throne of Grace: A Mountain Man, an Epic Adventure, and the 

         Bloody Conquest of the American West.  New York: St. Martin's Press, 2024.  ISBN:  

         9781250285836  

How much do you know about the Mountain Men?  I mean the men who in the early 1800's who ventured west from St. Louis (MO) to trap beavers for their pelts.  Men such as Jim Bridger lauded by Johnny Horton  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SmZy_b-qlU) among others.  But among this company of men, Jedediah Smith stands out.  He stands out for his bravery, his fortitude, his knowledge and his honesty.  Throne of Grace is his story told in the context of history.

Jedediah Smith arrived in St. Louis (MO) in 1822, having grown up along Lake Eire in Pennsylvania and Ohio.  He joined General William Henry Ashley's fur trading expedition, and headed west up the Missouri River to explore.  But that expedition encountered trouble partway up the river with Madan Indians.  But the fighting he encountered did not deter Smith.  Nor did the hardships of winter weather in the Rocky Mountains, the close encounters with hostile forces (Native Americans, Spanish, or British), or dangerous animals which included a very close encounter with a grizzly bear.  Due to his bravery, common sense, and leadership, Jedediah Smith rose from being one of Ashley's men to a partner in charge in the Rocky Mountain area.  H set up rendezvous points in the spring for the mountain men to gather and trade their pelts for supplies.  He also led expeditions that opened up large sections of the West to  settlers traveling to Oregon and California.  He was know for mapping everything he encountered and kept multiple journals documenting his finds.  He kept this up until he decided to retire.  But he went on one last venture with his brothers leading a wagon train to Santa Fe when he had a fatal encounter with Comanches.

Bob Drury and Tom Clavin did a masterful job of documenting the life of Jedediah Smith in the context of his time using his journals and other sources to pain a picture of the West in 1820's in all its gore and glory.  Take the time to read a tale of a true Western adventure!